Leila or, the Siege of Granada, Complete
Page 13
CHAPTER VII. THE TRIBUNAL AND THE MIRACLE
It was the dead of night--the army was hushed in sleep--when foursoldiers belonging to the Holy Brotherhood, bearing with them one whosemanacles proclaimed him a prisoner, passed in steady silence to a hugetent in the neighbourhood of the royal pavilion. A deep dyke, formidablebarricadoes, and sentries stationed at frequent intervals, testified theestimation in which the safety of this segment of the camp was held. Thetent to which the soldiers approached was, in extent, larger than eventhe king's pavilion itself--a mansion of canvas, surrounded by a widewall of massive stones; and from its summit gloomed, in the clear andshining starlight, a small black pennant, on which was wrought a whitebroad-pointed cross. The soldiers halted at the gate in the wall,resigned their charge, with a whispered watchword, to two gauntsentries; and then (relieving the sentries who proceeded on with theprisoner) remained, mute and motionless, at the post: for stern silenceand Spartan discipline were the attributes of the brotherhood of St.Hermandad.
The prisoner, as he now neared the tent, halted a moment, looked roundsteadily, as if to fix the spot in his remembrance, and then, with animpatient though stately gesture, followed his guards. He passed twodivisions of the tent, dimly lighted, and apparently deserted. Aman, clad in long black robes, with a white cross on his breast, nowappeared; there was an interchange of signals in dumb-show-and inanother moment Almamen, the Hebrew, stood within a large chamber (if sothat division of the tent might be called) hung with black serge. At theupper part of the space was an estrado, or platform, on which, by a longtable, sat three men; while at the head of the board was seen the calmand rigid countenance of Tomas de Torquemada. The threshold of the tentwas guarded by two men, in garments similar in hue and fashion tothose of the figure who had ushered Almamen into the presence of theinquisitor, each bearing a long lance, and with a long two-edged swordby his side. This made all the inhabitants of that melancholy andominous apartment.
The Israelite looked round with a pale brow, but a flashing and scornfuleye; and, when he met the gaze of the Dominican, it almost seemed as ifthose two men, each so raised above his fellows, by the sternness of hisnature and the energy of his passions, sought by a look alone to asserthis own supremacy and crush his foe. Yet, in truth, neither did justiceto the other; and the indignant disdain of Almamen was retorted by thecold and icy contempt of the Dominican.
"Prisoner," said Torquemada (the first to withdraw his gaze), "a lesshaughty and stubborn demeanour might have better suited thy condition:but no matter; our Church is meek and humble. We have sent for thee in acharitable and paternal hope; for although, as spy and traitor, thylife is already forfeited, yet would we fain redeem and spare it torepentance. That hope mayst thou not forego, for the nature of all of usis weak and clings to life--that straw of the drowning seaman."
"Priest, if such thou art," replied the Hebrew, "I have already, whenfirst brought to this camp, explained the causes of my detention amongstthe troops of the Moor. It was my zeal for the king of Spain thatbrought me into that peril. Escaping from that peril, incurred in hisbehalf, is the king of Spain to be my accuser and my judge? If,however, my life now be sought as the grateful return for the profferof inestimable service, I stand here to yield it. Do thy worst; and tellthy master, that he loses more by my death than he can win by the livesof thirty thousand warriors."
"Cease this idle babble," said the monk-inquisitor, contemptuously,"nor think thou couldst ever deceive, with thy empty words, the mightyintellect of Ferdinand of Spain. Thou hast now to defend thyself againststill graver charges than those of treachery to the king whom thou didstprofess to serve. Yea, misbeliever as thou art, it is thine to vindicatethyself from blasphemy against the God thou shouldst adore. Confess thetruth: thou art of the tribe and faith of Israel?"
The Hebrew frowned darkly. "Man," said he, solemnly, "is a judge of thedeeds of men, but not of their opinions. I will not answer thee."
"Pause! We have means at hand that the strongest nerves and the stoutesthearts have failed to encounter. Pause--confess!"
"Thy threat awes me not," said the Hebrew; "but I am human; and sincethou wouldst know the truth, thou mayst learn it without the torture. Iam of the same race as the apostles of thy Church--I am a Jew."
"He confesses--write down the words. Prisoner, thou hast done wisely;and we pray the Lord that, acting thus, thou mayst escape both thetorture and the death. And in that faith thy daughter was reared?Answer."
"My daughter! there is no charge against her! By the God of Sinai andHoreb, you dare not touch a hair of that innocent head!"
"Answer," repeated the inquisitor, coldly.
"I do answer. She was brought up no renegade to her father's faith."
"Write down the confession. Prisoner," resumed the Dominican, after apause, "but few more questions remain; answer them truly, and thy lifeis saved. In thy conspiracy to raise thy brotherhood of Andalusia topower and influence--or, as thou didst craftily term it, to equal lawswith the followers of our blessed Lord; in thy conspiracy (by what darkarts I seek not now to know _protege nos, beate Domine_!) to entanglein wanton affections to thy daughter the heart of the Infant ofSpain-silence, I say--be still! in this conspiracy, thou wert aided,abetted, or instigated by certain Jews of Andalusia--"
"Hold, priest!" cried Almamen, impetuously, "thou didst name my child.Do I hear aright? Placed under the sacred charge of a king, and a beltedknight, has she--oh! answer me, I implore thee--been insulted by thelicentious addresses of one of that king's own lineage? Answer! I am aJew--but I am a father and a man."
"This pretended passion deceives us not," said the Dominican, who,himself cut off from the ties of life, knew nothing of their power."Reply to the question put to thee: name thy accomplices."
"I have told thee all. Thou hast refused to answer one. I scorn and defythee: my lips are closed."
The Grand Inquisitor glanced to his brethren, and raised his hand.His assistants whispered each other; one of them rose, and disappearedbehind the canvas at the back of the tent. Presently the hangingswere withdrawn; and the prisoner beheld an interior chamber, hung withvarious instruments the nature of which was betrayed by their veryshape; while by the rack, placed in the centre of that dreary chamber,stood a tall and grisly figure, his arms bare, his eyes bent, as by aninstinct, on the prisoner.
Almamen gazed at these dread preparations with an unflinching aspect.The guards at the entrance of the tent approached: they struck off thefetters from his feet and hands; they led him towards the appointedplace of torture.
Suddenly the Israelite paused.
"Priest," said he, in a more humble accent than he had yet assumed, "thetidings that thou didst communicate to me respecting the sole daughterof my house and love bewildered and confused me for the moment. Sufferme but for a single moment to recollect my senses, and I will answerwithout compulsion all thou mayst ask. Permit thy questions to berepeated."
The Dominican, whose cruelty to others seemed to himself sanctioned byhis own insensibility to fear, and contempt for bodily pain, smiled withbitter scorn at the apparent vacillation and weakness of the prisoner:but, as he delighted not in torture merely for torture's sake, hemotioned to the guards to release the Israelite; and replied in a voiceunnaturally mild and kindly, considering the circumstances of the scene,
"Prisoner, could we save thee from pain, even by the anguish of our ownflesh and sinews, Heaven is our judge that we would willingly undergothe torture which, with grief and sorrow, we ordained to thee.Pause--take breath--collect thyself. Three minutes shalt thou haveto consider what course to adopt ere we repeat the question. But thenbeware how thou triflest with our indulgence."
"It suffices--I thank thee," said the Hebrew, with a touch of gratitudein his voice. As he spoke he bent his face within his bosom, which hecovered, as in profound meditation, with the folds of his long robe.Scarcely half the brief time allowed him had expired, when he againlifted his countenance and, as he did so, flung back his garment.The Dom
inican uttered a loud cry; the guards started back in awe. Awonderful change had come over the intended victim; he seemed to standamongst them literally--wrapt in fire; flames burst from his lip, andplayed with his long locks, as, catching the glowing hue, they curledover his shoulders like serpents of burning light: blood-red were hisbreast and limbs, his haughty crest, and his outstretched arm; andas for a single moment, he met the shuddering eyes of his judges, heseemed, indeed, to verify all the superstitions of the time--no longerthe trembling captive but the mighty demon or the terrible magician.
The Dominican was the first to recover his self-possession. "Seize theenchanter!" he exclaimed; but no man stirred. Ere yet the exclamationhad died on his lip, Almamen took from his breast a phial, and dashedit on the ground--it broke into a thousand shivers: a mist rose over theapartment--it spread, thickened, darkened, as a sudden night; the lampscould not pierce it. The luminous form of the Hebrew grew dull and dim,until it vanished in the shade. On every eye blindness seemed to fall.There was a dead silence, broken by a cry and a groan; and when, aftersome minutes, the darkness gradually dispersed, Almamen was gone. One,of the guards lay bathed in blood upon the ground; they raised him: hehad attempted to seize the prisoner, and had been stricken with a mortalwound. He died as he faltered forth the explanation. In the confusionand dismay of the scene none noticed, till long afterwards, that theprisoner had paused long enough to strip the dying guard of his longmantle; a proof that he feared his more secret arts might not suffice tobear him safe through the camp, without the aid of worldly stratagem.
"The fiend hath been amongst us!" said the Dominican, solemnly fallingon his knees,--"let us pray!"
BOOK III.